SATURDAY AT THE MAINSTAGE
Jim Bryson (with Jill Barber and The Weakerthans) — Freeways in the Front Yard

The Acorn — Dents (Glory, Pt. 1)

Diamond Rings — On Our Own

Bahamas (aka Afie Jurvanen) — You Release Me (please correct the title if you know it :)

Think About Life — again… let me know if you know the title to this, please. These guys were the surprise hit for me — I’d never heard of them, and they blew my socks off!

Shad — We, Myself and I

The Weakerthans — One Great City!

The Weakerthans (with Jim Bryson) — (Manifest)

Another highlight of the weekend for me:

That’s me with Shad, who’d had a phenomenal set just hours before. John snapped this at the after-party, and when we left, Shad was on the dancefloor, still wearing my re[TURN] shirt. Whee! We will be back next year, to be sure.

For fellow canucks, The Vinyl Café and the sound of Stuart McLean’s voice are likely familiar to you — stories of Dave and Morley and other characters who are practically family members to some listeners by now. Lucky duck that I am, I got to play the role of Amanda’s date yesterday, and we went to see the Ottawa show of the Vinyl Café’s Christmas Tour, which also featured Jill Barber and Matt Andersen. To top it all off, we got to sit in a loge; it couldn’t have been more perfect… unless I’d had binoculars-on-a-stick and a fan.

Seeing the stories being told was a lot more magical than just hearing them over the airwaves. Stuart McLean truly has a gift for storytelling, and watching him made me realize how each word, breath and every decision about timing was crucial to his delivery. The room was full of laughs, some sniffles, and plenty of feelings of nostalgia.

Jill Barber was ever-charming and glamorous:

And I’m thankful for the introduction to Matt Andersen, who got a standing ovation after this performance:

Matt’s parents flew in from the East Coast to watch this show… and Stuart asked Matt’s Mom to come up and help sing this number:

The show’s finale had the room singing along:

For the entire show, I felt like I was tucked in. I’m not someone who feels particularly “Christmassy” during the holidays, but this was definitely the most I’ve felt in a long time. When it was time to go, I was half-surprised to look down and realize that I wasn’t in my pj’s and slippers.

Jill Barber played a phenomenal show at Wakefield, Québec’s Black Sheep Inn this past Friday. As memorable as the performance, the musicians, and her voice were… what will etch this evening into my brain most definitively was the stealthy sheneniganning that took place leading up to the show.

Jill’s sweetheart Grant Lawrence (from cbc3 radio) swooped in from the west coast to surprise her. Amanda was helping him keep things on the down-low while making pre-show dinner plans with Jill. And finally, John and I provided the wheels to Wakefield. So there was some luggage-hiding, giggling over text-messaging, Grant sitting in the shadows by the bar while Jill arrived to the homey Kaffé 1870 for dinner, then Amanda saying ‘Gee, doesn’t that guy look like Grant???’… then the happy surprise. It was as heart-warming as the comfort food we tucked into.

Jill and four-fifths of her band at Kaffé 1870

And then the show. Jill wowed the packed Inn, she charmed us all with her vocals, humour, and how obviously she was enjoying herself while performing. She weaved between her usual folkier tunes and her more recently released 40’s-inspired pieces — and somehow, everything fit seamlessly. It was astounding that all her bandmates and their multiple instruments fit on the stage — and they blew us away with unbelieveable musicianship, and yet no one competed for attention.

This is the last song of the evening, concluding their second encore:

… performed acoustically and without mics. (Apologies for the lack of picture quality; low lighting makes for dark movies!)

I’m thrilled to have played a part (however puny!) in bringing a happy surprise to Jill that night, because she certainly made my evening with her amazing performance.